November 17, 2009
Check your mummy's cholesterol
Researchers said they found evidence of hardening of the arteries in Egyptian mummies dating as far back as 3,500 years, challenging long-standing assumptions that cardiovascular disease is mainly a malady of modern societies.Full article here. It must be kept in mind that the mummies studied came from the upper crust of ancient Egyptian society, so it's a bit of an overstatement to claim that this study indicates atherosclerosis was widespread across the ancient world.They were able to identify the hearts, arteries or both in 16 of the mummies, nine of which had deposits of calcification. An analysis determined the deposits were either definite or probable evidence of atherosclerosis, the condition leads to heart attacks and strokes.
Posted by David on November 17, 2009 7:38 PM
Doctors - senior types, at that - believed that before hotdog vendors at ball parks existed no-one ever ate fat or salt? Still only get it from places that serve pre-cooked or quickly-cooked foods at "fast food" emporia? Oh yes, and cities have sprung up only in the last century or so - Cairo, Rome, Alexandria were all just villages of less than 2000 people, who were in turn entirely vegetarian, and at that did not even eat fatty plant stuff like nuts or olives?
Where the heck do these doctors live? Certainly not any place I have ever heard of.
Posted by: John A on November 18, 2009 4:12 PM
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